Brown Claims 2007 Rowing National Championships

OAK RIDGE -- Brown captured its fifth rowing national title with strong showings in Sunday's grand finals on the last day of the 2007 NCAA Rowing Championships on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The Bears become the second squad in the meet's history to win the title despite not winning a race. They finished second in the Fours race behind overall team runner-up Virginia. Brown ranked third in the Second Eights, topping the Cavaliers by four seats. With the team title hanging in the balance, the Bears finished a half-length in front of Virginia to capture their record fifth national title.

"It's great," said Brown head coach John Murphy. "What can I say? It's just so special. It's a great pleasure to win. The competition gets tougher and tougher every year and that is evident in all of the close finishes that we had this weekend. We hope to be back here again in the future."

Yale's First Eights crew culminated its undefeated season with a wire-to-wire victory, the program's first event win in NCAA Championships history. The Bulldogs (6:37.08) finished with a three-seat advantage over Ohio State (6:38.77) for the title. Southern California (6:39.45) suffered its first defeats on the year, ranking third, just 1/10th of a second ahead of Brown (6:39.55). Virginia (6:41.50) came in a length ahead of Princeton (6:45.38).

"It may not have been our best executed race of the year, but it was definitely our hardest fought and gutsiest race," said Yale senior coxswain Emily Cleveland. "We were unrelenting, line to line. It was definitely our most collective race, bow to stern."

The top crew from Minnesota (6:43.53) surged over the final 500 meters to take the First Eights petite final over Dartmouth (6:43.95). Tennessee (6.44.32) also closed rapidly over the final quarter of the race to rank third ahead of Stanford (6:45.71). Harvard (6:49.16) was just inside of the Cardinal's deck to finish fifth, a half-length in front of Notre Dame (6:51.04). The Bears of California, the defending national team champions, won the "C" final by a length over UCLA.

The Golden Gophers of Minnesota (6:56.39) captured its first race crown in the Second Eights grand final, finishing three-quarters of a length in front of California (6:59.15). The Golden Bears edged out the Brown Bears (6:59.71) by a seat, who came in a half-length ahead of Virginia (7:01.52). Ohio State (7:08.52) held a five-seat lead at the finish over sixth-place Washington (7:11.29).

"With this group, we have stuck to the same race plan to get out early at the start and just stay at the front," said Minnesota head coach Wendy Davis. "They just row really well."

Southern California (6:58.34) won the Second Eights petite final, holding off the charging Tennessee shell (6:59.30). Yale (7:01.10) came in third, while Harvard (7:06.34) finished fourth. Princeton (7:11.15) was fifth while Notre Dame (7:16.16) took sixth.

Virginia (7:35.03) ran away from the field in the Fours, beating Brown by 10.51 seconds. California (7:47.87) took third ahead of fourth-place Princeton (7:50.90). Washington (7:53.75) finished fifth, holding off the closing Yale crew (7:54.41).

"This was an amazing effort by these girls," Virginia head coach Kevin Sauer said. "I have never seen anything like that in an NCAA championship, to win a race by that much and to dominate. They've shown so much all year and this was a fitting end to what they've done all year, that they were able to win a national championship."

Southern California (7:44.06) topped Minnesota (7:49.31) by over a length in the Fours petite final. The Lady Vols of Tennessee (7:54.18) finished third, a half-boat ahead of Ohio State (7:56.02). The Buckeyes pushed their bow ball past the line 0.22 seconds in front of Notre Dame (7:56.34). Harvard (7:58.91) ranked sixth.

Ohio State finished third in the team race with 52 points, just one ahead of fourth-placed Yale. The Trojans of USC finished fifth with 48 points, topping Minnesota by one point. California's 38 points ranked seventh, while Princeton was eighth. Tennessee came in ninth, with Washington, Harvard and Notre Dame rounding out the standings.

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by Reta
Location: 37771
on May 27, 2007 at 09:14 PM

This event brought a great number of schools/people to the area for a 3-day event. Better media coverage would have been great PR for the area.

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